Asa Spangler, a native of Floyd County, Virginia, came into Raleigh County in the early years of the settlement of the region and built a water-powered grist mill on Piney Creek at a location below Raleigh later known as Worley. He operated his flour and meal mill there for several years. In the meantime a Mr. Worley brought in a saw mill which was powered by steam. That is said to be the first steam engine in Raleigh County. Asa Spangler and Mr. Worley traded mills and the place where Spangler's grist mill was located became known as Worley.

In 1884 Spangler brought his steam-powered saw mill to Cirtsville and, in partnership with J. E. Kidd, put in a lumber mill and a grist mill, all powered by the same engine obtained from Worley. This was a large operation and required quite a lot of machinery, with the lumber mill they had a planer and a machine for making tongue-and-groved flooring and ceiling, so they could make everything necessary in the building of houses.

The grist mill was equipped to grind corn, wheat, and buckwheat. All this machinery was bought from a company in Pittsburgh. It was shipped by railroad to Fayette Station and hauled by wagons to Cirtsville. This was quite an undertaking but it was done and Spangler's Mill at Cirtsville was one of the best mills in the state. After a few years, J. E. Kidd sold his interest in the mill to Lawson Carper and for several years, it operated under the name of Spangler and Carper but finally Spangler bought Carper's share and became owner of it. It was known as Spangler's Mill.

At Asa Spangler's death the property fell to his son, John B. Spangler, and at John B. Spangler's death, it became the property of two of his sons, Duff and Ross. However, the mill was never in operation after the death of John Spangler.

John Spangler married Rachel Davis, a daughter of James S. Davis. They were the parents of nine children, seven boys and two girls. For several years they lived in the house near the mill. This house is now owned and occupied by Mrs. Iris Godbey. Later Spangler bought from Bunty Sam Davis the farm on Dixon Branch and it was there that most of his children were born and grew up.

Spangler's day for grinding corn was Friday. On grind days, farmers brought their corn to the mill and there were horses and wagons all over the place. The people would have a great time of fellowship together. After all the news of the country had been told and discussed, they would tell jokes and you could hear them laugh half a mile away.

Farmers from the Fayetteville, Flat Top, and Trap Hill areas and other places some distances away would bring their wheat and buckwheat to be ground. This was usually done by appointment. They would communicate with Mr. Spangler by mail and make arrangements to bring their grain on a certain day. They would leave their homes early in the morning and drive all day, arriving at the mill late in the afternoon. Mr. Spangler would send them to his home where he had a room for them. While they were getting a good rest, he would grind their grain and have it ready for them to start home the next morning. Mrs. Spangler and her daughters would prepare breakfast for these men. Spangler took toll out of their grain, no money exchanged hands. The mill was torn down in 1945 and Duff Spangler put up a garage on the spot that was formerly the mill. This was a large cinderblock building but in 1952, this building was torn down to make way for the West Virginia Turnpike. Today the site of the mill is covered by the turnpike bridge.

Shortly after the mill was put into operation, the Angles came in. They were blacksmiths and put up a blacksmith shop on the west side of Paint Creek. The Angle family consisted of Aaron Angle, his wife Sally, and two sons, Albert and Clayton. Clayton did not take to blacksmithing but Albert worked with his father in the shop and became a good blacksmith. People came from all the surrounding country to get their farm tools repaired and sharpened, their horses shed, and their buggies and wagons repaired. The shop continued to operate until the automobile came in and took the place of the horse. There was no more use for a blacksmith shop so they went out of business.

Before the saw mill came to Cirtsville, all buildings were constructed of logs but when lumber became available, people started building framed houses. Large two-story houses became the style. The kind of house a family lived in determined his status as a citizen. If his house was two storied, he was a class A but if his home was only one floor, he was class B or lower.

About the time the Angles put up their blacksmith shop, Amos Williams, a son of Henry Williams, bought the Lonesome Dave farm and put in a grocery store. He had a good country store and it was the meeting place for the men of the village for many years.

A few years later John Sweeney and a Mr. Webb put in a store on the west side of the creek. Paint Creek ran through the middle of the village so we had East Cirtsville and West Cirtsville. On the west side, we had Spangler's mill, Sweeney's store, and Dr. J. W. Hunter's home and office. On the east side, we had Amos Williams' store, Angle's blacksmith shop, a one-room schoolhouse, the Cirtsville post office, and the Methodist church.

There was quite a rivalry between the two merchants of East Cirtsville and West Cirtsville. Each one tried to bring in new industries to build up his side of the village. Mr. Sweeney brought in a barber and put up a barber shop on his side of the creek. The barber was Joe Bragg, who later became Police Chief of Mount Hope. Sweeney and Bragg got a nice piece of lumber and erected it in front of the shop. It was a very attractive barber pole and added much to the appearance of West Cirtsville.

After Nate Purdy closed down his distillery, the young men had trouble finding a beverage with sufficient strength to put them in the proper spirit for having fun. Amos Williams finally found that he could order by the keg a brew called Cherry Bounce. It was supposed to be a soft drink but it had a kick equal to a white mule, and a few drinks of it would make a rabbit fight a wildcat. On Saturday after Sweeney and Bragg erected their barber pole, the boys came in and he had a fresh keg of Cherry Bounce. He set up drinks for all of them and when it began to take effect, he suggested that it would be a good joke to slip over after dark and steal the barber pole. The suggestion and another round of cherry bounce was all that was needed. After darkness came, some of the boys went over and carried the barber pole over the footlog to the east side of the creek. After a lot of horseplay and fun with it, they took it down in the bottom. Most of them had pistols and they shot it to pieces. When Mr. Sweeney discovered his barber pole was gone, he did some good detective work and got warrants for the boys. They were summoned to come to Justice E. G. Wriston's court for trial. They got together and decided that the best thing to do was for one of them to confess to stealing the barber pole and they would all chip in and pay the fine. So when they assembled for trial as soon as the court was called to order, Alex Stover stood up and said, "Squire, I am the man that stole the barber pole." Squire Wriston fined him $10 and cost. They all paid it and the case was closed. That is just one incident of many that happened at Cirtsville in the Gay Nineties.

About the year 1886 when it seemed that Cirtsville was to be the hub around which the Upper Paint Creek region revolved, an application was made to have a post office established at Cirtsville. After the post office officials had investigated the situation, the request was granted and the Cirtsville post office was established on June 14, 1886. Amos P. Williams was the first postmaster. Several years later his wife was appointed postmaster and it was run under the name of M. L. Williams for many years. The Cirtsville post office served the people of Upper Paint Creek for many years. It was discontinued May 6, 1932. Elizabeth Maynor was the last postmaster.

Cirtsville was named for one of the early settlers, Curtis Vass.

Another development that had a great effect on Cirtsville was the building of the railroad through the region. The railroad was completed about the year 1906. This railroad started at Deepwater on the Kanawha River and ran east to the Atlantic coast at Norfolk, VA. It was first called the Deepwater Railroad but was later the Virginian Railroad. It is now a part of the Norfolk and western Railroad system. Just above the village the railroad cut through a ridge and the course of the creek was changed. There was no earthmoving machinery then such as we have now. All this work was done with shovels, picks, dump carts, and mules. For two years there were camps of workers in and around Cirtsville. When the railroad was finally finished, they wanted to build a station in Cirtsville but there was no land near the tracks suitable. They located the station one mile above Cirtsville at the village of Maynor but they called the station Cirtsville. So we had the Cirtsville railroad station at Maynor instead of at Cirtsville. That was quite confusing for strangers who came in on the train.